National firm TLT is to boost its Manchester office by recruiting a 30-strong team including six partners from rival national firm Irwin Mitchell.

Partners Andrew Bell, Ed Cotton, John Lord, Jon Close, Julien Luke and Tom Seabrook will join before Christmas, along with a team of 24 solicitors, paralegals and support staff.

The move comes six months after the firm launched in the city with a team of nine, including Pinsent Masons partners Emma Flowers and Graeme Orchidson and DLA partner Stuart Campbell. Commercial property partner Dan Sweeney from Hill Dickinson joined in September.

TLT’s managing partner David Pester (pictured) said: ‘This is a clear marker in the sand about our UK-wide growth intentions. We want to get the right people and the right expertise into the business to deliver for our clients when and where they need us.’


‘The team’s arrival cements our place in Manchester and builds further the firm’s UK-wide commercial, corporate and litigation teams.’

TLT launched operations in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Belfast in 2012. It also has offices in Bristol, London and a shipping finance team in Piraeus, Greece.


It announced a 10% increase in turnover from £44.5m in 2011/2 to £49.6m for 2012/13 across all its operations.